Andrew is a vampire currently living in exile on a remote island as punishment for crimes against humans. One night, a ship wrecks, and Andrew saves Edmund, hoping the one who's punishing him will reward him for keeping a human alive instead of killing them. He doesn't expect to fall in love with the man.

*I received an ecopy of this book via NetGalley. This has not influenced my review.*

I originally DNFed this one at 13%, but I decided to give it another shot because I love vampires and I saw so many great reviews that made me think maybe the book would get better. I did end up enjoying it more than I thought I would in the end, but it turns out I was partly right and partly wrong in my initial assessment, so here are some lists!

Things I Liked:

– How non-human the vampires were sometimes. (We got to meet another one in a flashback.) For example, Andrew referred to Edmund as “it” in the beginning, thinking about how he’d keep the human in order to show the vampire who exiled him that he could be around a human without killing it. Not to mention how vampire-y he was in the whole flashback about how he killed a human and earned his exile in the first place.

– The banter between Andrew and Edmund was fun. If anyone could handle Andrew, it would be Edmund. They made a great match.

– Andrew’s feelings for Edmund were super cute.

– I didn’t like the writing style at first… and then I did. It was kind of… quick? Andrew didn’t dwell on descriptions, and he stated things in kind of a simple but eloquent way. It worked really well. It gave his POV a slightly disconnected, otherworldly, non-human feel.

Things I Disliked:

– Instalove-ish. I’m not entirely sure how long they were together on the island, but I don’t think it was that long, and the book was so short that I didn’t get to see that much build-up.

– The book was mostly focused on sex.

– They didn’t use lube! That’s such a specific thing to dislike, but considering that sex was so prominent in the book, I feel like it’s a fair complaint. I know they were on a remote island, but if they managed to find rum and salted pork in the debris that washed up, they could’ve also found some oil.

– There was one sex scene that started out dub-con. But Andrew was a fairly non-human vampire at times, and Edmund did want it in the end, so it’s up to other people if that bothers them.

Overall:

This was a very quick read (a novella rather than a full novel), but I really liked the portrayal of vampires. I think I could’ve loved this had there been a little less focus on sex and had I gotten to see more of the relationship. But that doesn’t make this a bad book at all, just one that wasn’t quite right for my tastes. I can see other readers enjoying this.

Andrew is a vampire from New Orleans, exiled to a tropical island in the 1800s as punishment for his human bloodlust. During a storm, a ship crashes off shore. After rescuing a sailor from the cannibals native to the land, Andrew becomes fascinated with his brilliant, beautiful new companion, Edmund.

Edmund is a British naturalist who has sailed the world seeking new species. Intrigued by creatures that might kill him, immortal Andrew is this scientist’s dream-but so is making his way back home. Edmund will fight to survive, even while wrapped in the arms of a monster.

As light touches and laughter turn to something much more passionate, the cannibals creep ever closer to Edmund. Can the ancient vampire keep his human alive long enough to escape exile and explore their newfound love, or will Andrew’s bloodlust seal his own doom?

I like it when vampires are kind of otherwordly. Not just people with fangs. I mean they’re supposed to be undead, so it makes sense they’d be different? So that’s kinda cool how he refers to edmund as “it” lol. Does sound it was a little too sex- focused though. Shame about the oil though… :)

I’m not sure that I’ve heard of a vampire love story set on an island, so points for originality!

Well, I’ve always felt like, creature like faeries and demons and djinn, they were never human, whereas vampires were. So I feel like it makes sense for them to be human, especially if they were just turned. But I also like otherworldly portrayals, like maybe being turned did change something in them, or just being immortal and being alive so long (if they’re old) made them disconnected from their humanity. But seriously, there could’ve been some oil in those crates, haha.

That’s a shame that it’s overly focused on sex. I’m usually a fan of ‘less is more’ in that area when I’m reading. Otherwise, it sounds like a pretty good read and a believable portrayal of vampires. I never like it when they just come across as people with pointy teeth who want to drink your blood, lol.

I don’t mind sex scenes at all, it was just, the book was so short that the sex just kind of took over, and there were so many other more interesting things (in my opinion) that I would’ve liked to get more page-time. But yeah, the portrayal of vampires was interesting!